The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-10-27
EVENING.

DIR. Mckenzie.
EVENING.
The evening service commenced with
singing, reading the scripture and prayer by
Rev. DR.. Cooper. DIR. Mckenzie, the chair
man. then introduced President w. Dewitt
Hyde of Bowdoin College, whose address
we give:
President Hyde's Sermon.
When you invite Congressman to address the
meeting of the American Missionary Association
you expect that he will speak of the Dawes bill,
the Glenn BILL the Indian Commissioners order
or some phase ,of the work of the Associa-
ton connected with his own official duties In
like manner when you call teacher from the
teaching of Psychology, you must not be sur
prised If his subject the Nerve of Missions, has
Psychological SAVIOR The shoemaker must stick
to his last. And there are certain simple facts
which Physiological Psychology teaches us about
the nerves which have an obvious application TO
missionary work.
The great function Of the nerves is to bind the
various members of the body into an organic
whole Were it not for this concentrating fune
tion of the nerves mouth could not feed stomach;
hands could not minister to mouth; feet could
not transplant hands; nor eyes guide feet. nor
without nerves each member would be separate,
helpless, useless piece of bone and flesh and
sinew.
In like manner the constituents of this Mission
airy Association, scattered as we are over the
whole OF this broad land would be powerless TO
work for common object, unless there were
some bond 70 bind us all together.
The first function of the nerve of missions is to
unity the several constituents,
Again. nerves are of two kinds incoming and
outgoing; the sensory nerves, conducting 10 the
brain impressions from without; aud the motor
nerves, conducting impulses from within to the
muscles OF the external organs for their guidance
ana control so missionary work involves two
fold action; heincomng of impressions to arouse
US TO effort, and the outgoing of action in definite
missions. therefore, is to rouse us to action; and
the third function will be TO give wise direction TO
united effort when it is once aroused.
Let us then, with these three functions of the
nerve OF missions in mind, examine the various
forces which might claim to be the nerve of mis-
sions and see how far they fulfill these their es-
sential functions of nerve, to unity, TO arouse
and TO direct.
First, is it Philanthropy? Is that what draws
us together and wakes us up and shows us what
10 do? philanthropy pure and simple. is love for
man as he Is, and logically must seek to crafty
he wants TO make him happy, is the highest max
i'm which mere philanthropy can consistently en-
force. If what calls itself Philanthropy rises
higher, as admit it generally does, and aims to
give man what he needs to make him better then
not the actual man as he is, but the ideal man, the
man as he ought to be. Is the object of effort and
thing higher There is an element of unconscious
Christianity init. For this ideal man-this man
as he ought to be, which Is the object of such eff
fort is none other than The vaguely apprehended
aud as yet unrecognized image of the Christ who
| Is humanity's ideal
Combining ourselves then strictly to mere Phi
lanthropy, the love of man as he is, let us see
whether this fulfils our three requisites of the
nerve OF missions. Do you think that the propo-
sal to give to great mass of men what they hap
| pen TO want to make them happy. will draw and
mold together great mutitudes Of other men re-
M al alfE A ANTadf
the object OF their philanthropic endeavor? Will
such proposal awaken enthusiasm throughout
the length and breadth of the land? viii it bring
in the mites of the widows the pennies Of the
children, the dimes of the workingmen the dol
lars OF the professional ana business men and the
hundreds OF the merchant princes? And even if
men could be united and money raised for such
purpose, do you think that this endeavor to give
men just what they happen to want TO make them
happy would be guide to wise effort and Judi
clous expenditure and a safeguard against mis-
cnlev0us Indulgence and wasteful squanderng?
NO. PnllanthrOpy alone fuhls neither one of the
three great requisites of the nerve of missions.
No. individuals in the name Of Philanthropy
nave now and then done noble deeds and given
generous requests. But human nature, even in
its most amiable aspects and most generous traits,
IS all too weak and too short-sighted to stand the
strain OF steady prolonged, disnterested and self
sacrificing effort on the part of many individuals
for remote and judicious ends. Higher than Ppi-
lanthropy We must look for the nerve of missions
Is then Patriotism the nerve of our missionary
work. Patriotism Is one of the Hottest and mob
lest motives that stir tine human heart. II binds
| enthusiasm to the depths. These two essentials
OF nerve OF missions Patriotism supplies. But
will II guide activity to the most beIefcent ends
| and do the steady unnoticed drudgery and make
| the prolonged and painful sacrifice which such
work requires2 No, here is when Patriotism
| falls short Prof. Chas. Eliot Norton once asked
| Thomas Carlyle how he could have been so indif
| ferent to the great struggle which the North made
| TO preserve the Union and overthrow slavery in
the South ooh" said Carlyle in his contemptu-
Gus way, "The South says to the negro, BE
slaves, and may God bless you,' and the North
tn pa fr9a ba,, a.,
and there Is very little difference between the
two" Carlyle's criticism of the patriotism of the
North was uncalled for and unjust, as SO many Of
his criticisms were and yet, were it not for such
| work as this Association is doing to supplement
| our political action, there would be grain OF
| truth In his contemptuOus exaggeratiOn
When there happens TO be burdensome and
| perplexing surplus in the National Treasury col
lected by Indirect taxation Congress may or may
not appropriate $50 00h 900 to educate illiterate
citizens. Whether it will or not depends on some
| what the same considerations as determine
whether II VIII abolish the tax on whiskey or
| tobacco or not. But does any one suppose that
| the average citizen has enough of patriotism to
vote to tax himself directly for the education of
| the ilterate citizens of distant states to the
| amount OF tie average contribution of the sup
| porters Of this Association? Ii he does, l am
afraid he has not had much experience in raising
school money il districts and towns for expendi-
| lures at home. am afraid his estimate of human
nature is drawn from inadequate observation and
| experience. Patriotism will rouse nation to re-
| siSt imminent and threatening evils from without
To resist INVASION rebellion or nsurrecion patrl-
millions of treasure But to cut out the dry rot of
| corruption to stamp out the smoudering fires of
BY spadefu the dSes Chat shall wtbstsppd ths
| floods OF demagogsm and lawlessneSs;-to do
this quiet, silent, underground work which calls
Tor patient and unappauded sacrifice, year in and
year out this is a height to which the average
Patrlotism OF even the most patriotic nations Of
tn as eartn nave not yet risen Higher than Patrl
Is ii tEen devotion to the church, ecclesiasti
cism winch furnishes the nerve of this missionary
| powerful motive. 1t can bind men together it
| can by authority or persuasion, elicit money and
service; II can DO this, irrespective of the truth
| on wmch the church is grounded or the end at
| which II aims: Catholics excel Protestants in the
| working OF this motive; and Northumberland ex-
GELS them Doth. In the palmy days of Islam, when
| the conquering armies of the successors of the
| Prophet were Overrunning Asia and Africa and
| threatening even Europe, with their summary
| presentation, as motives to conversion ~ the
| choice between Koran tribute and sword, it
| CHANGED that small detachment of the Moslem
army was surprised by greatly superior force of
| Christians. The Christian commander sent a mes
sengsr summoning the Moslem commander to
| surrender. The Moslem general in the presence
| OF the christian messenger drew up his slender
| force on the brow of a precipice Then he called
| at random soldier from the ranks and ordered
| him TO walk over the brow of the preci-
| pice to instant and inevitable death. The
| soldier, without an nstants hesitation did as he
was bid. Another and third did the same
| thing. There" said the Moslem general, turn
| ing to the Christian messenger, "g0 and tell your
Christian hosts that such men as these cannot be
authority, the devotion to the grandeur and extern
| sion of church is mighty motive. 1t binds to-
gether and it rouses men. But 1t stops short of
| doing the best work for its converts. A stream
| of water rises no higher than its source, and when
the glory or the extension of a church is the mis-
siOnary motive the missionary work is sure to end
| with the baptism and enrolment of its converts
| For the deeper, distinctively Christian work of
| developing the manhood, the character, the soul
life of its converts the ecclesiastical motive is
| utterly inadequate. In proportion as mere Chris.
| tian extension and ACKNOWLEDGEMENT is the motive
| of missions to that extent will the practical differ
| ence In character and life between pagan and a
| convert be small and where church extension Is
| everything as a motive, that difference between
| converted and unconverted is apt t. be reduced
| to nothing. Higher than ecclesasticism or deyo-
ton to the extension and glory of the church must
| we look for the nerve of missions.
| Is then Theology and the desire to promugate
| a skiufully coordinated system of doctrine the
| nerve of missions? Under exceptional conditions
like those existing at the beginning of the century
| here in New England, where amid abundant intel
leetual leisure theology was the central absorbing
theme, this motive might bind together limited
| number Of consenting minds; arouse them To
make great sacrifices, and give judicious direction
| to the forces thus developed. But theology dl.
videS as well as unites men. Its hold as a motive
| in the mind, varies greatly even among people
| Of equal Christian character and life. And as Ia
the work il accomplishes, ii is in danger of being
vague and impractical. aiming to square the alb
| stract essence of souls with some formal PROPOSE.
ton rather than TO develOpe the concrete life OF
| men and women fathers and mothers, husbands
and wives, parents and children, neighbors and
| citizens in conformity with an ideal of personal
| chs ha &c